France says it will conduct a fourth search for additional wreckage of an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic last year with 228 people on board.

The French Transport Ministry said Thursday that the latest search should begin in February. Officials were quoted as saying the "best equipment currently available" will be used.

Air France Flight 447 crashed off Brazil's coast in June 2009 as it headed to Paris from Rio de Janeiro.

The initial search found wreckage and bodies, but the flight data recorders, which could provide clues as to what happened to the aircraft, have not been found. Search teams looking for the missing recorders called off operations in May after failing to locate them.

The plane went down in water some 7,000 meters-deep above a mountainous ocean floor. A preliminary report concluded that a faulty speed-sensing system may have led to the crash.